I’ve made a few changes to my blogging… tonight as a matter of fact. Created a sort of intermittent fasting day without hardly trying, LOL! Wish I were showing the fat loss results you have! But my mindset is good right now, and I’ve not given up.

Sounds like the eating is going really well for you right now! I may have to do a no sugar thing for a couple weeks myself, as I’ve backslid and it’s hard kicking the urge for it.

However on the milk.. It seems to be too controversial and too inconclusive for me. The second study you mention doesn’t really correlate much, it wasn’t looking at weight loss, it was looking at obesity rates vs how much milk you drank. It doesn’t look at what those peoples lifestyles were like. And all it looked at was the past 24 hours.. that’s not a very long time. Grab a 24 hour period in my life and I could have drunk a lot of milk or none at all.

I’m a big cynic on a lot of these studies especially ones that are funded by the dairy council which the first study was.

Take a look at this article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8608601/

and this one:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/28/AR2005062800834.html

And here: Of 49 randomized trials 41 showed no affect… Only 5 showed weight loss. Guess which ones the dairy council are gonna parade around.. I am still highly skeptical.

Dairy and weight loss hypothesis: an evaluation of the clinical trials
Amy Joy Lanou 1
and Neal D Barnard 2

1 University of North Carolina at Asheville, Department of Health and Wellness, Asheville, North Carolina, USA
2 Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, DC, USA
Correspondence to AJ Lanou, University of North Carolina at Asheville, Department of Health and Wellness, CPO #2730, One University Heights, Asheville, NC 28804, USA. E-mail: alanou@unca.edu; Phone: +1-828-250-2317, Fax: +1-828-250-3856

KEYWORDS
body fat • body weight • calcium • dairy

ABSTRACT
This review evaluates evidence from clinical trials that assessed the effect of dairy product or calcium intake, with or without concomitant energy restriction, on body weight and adiposity. Of 49 randomized trials assessing the effect of dairy products or calcium supplementation on body weight, 41 showed no effect, two demonstrated weight gain, one showed a lower rate of gain, and five showed weight loss. Four of 24 trials report differential fat loss. Consequently, the majority of the current evidence from clinical trials does not support the hypothesis that calcium or dairy consumption aids in weight or fat loss.
___________________________________

Now don’t get me wrong, I do get my dairy, calcium is definitely an essential element but I am not so sure about it’s touted weight loss benefits.

As for the oil, this is the list:
Olive, canola, safflower, sunflower or flaxseed oil. Avoid saturated and trans fats.

You have to take 2 tsp a day to meet their guidelines, and it has to be pourable oil. No fish oil, no walnut oil, no coconut oil which are all great fats. I don’t think the list is wrong but I do feel it is lacking.

I would recommend WW to anyone in a heartbeat though. Just because I don’t agree with all of it and I have a habit of picking and choosing the parts I like is my personal take on it. I also think most of their snacks and stuff are utter garbage but hey I’ve said before I am a food snob. Fat free icecream just doesn’t cut it for me however point friendly it is. I also think it is funny that their own frozen dinner line does not follow their own guidelines. None of the pasta or rice is wholegrain, it’s all white. And the veggie content of most of them is pretty poor. I got to the store properly last weekend and I am noshing on a 12 grain stone ground whole wheat bread with turkey, hummus and a large pile of organic green salad on top sandwich for lunch. Much better than a frozen dinner I follow it up with a pot of yogurt

That said I think what they teach these days is excellent for your average joe/jane. They have helped a lot of people.

I’ve learned a lot about portions from just weighing food. It’s given me a good idea of what is reasonable vs. what is excessive. I too hope that I will not be weighing everything by the gram for life.

Over a stone!!! Way to go. I completely agree with you about the sanity system for weight loss. It feels nice to have a normal life, doesn’t it.

There’s actually a bunch of research to show that dairy consumption is associated with long-term successful weight loss. Hang on a sec, I’ll go look some up for you and get the details.

Study 1: Published 2008, a nine-month clinical study of 338 men and women comprising 3 months weight loss and 6 months maintenance. Two groups were low dairy (<1 svg/day) vs. recommended dairy (3 svgs/day). The findings: The recommended dairy group exhibited evidence of greater fat oxidation and was able to consume greater energy without greater weight gain compared to the low dairy group. Recommended levels of dairy products may be used during weight maintenance without contributing to weight gain compared to diets low in dairy products.

Study 2: an Israeli study also published last year, of a cross-sectional survey of a random sample of 3246 Israleis aged 25 to 64. They wanted to test the theory that increased calcium intake plays a role in preventing obesity and promoting weight loss. Nearly 3000 participants had height and weight measured and were divided into three groups by BMI (/= 30) and given a 24-hour dietary recall questionnaire – ie. what did you eat yesterday? They also measured waist circumference in most of the participants.

Their findings: The mean calcium intake was 511.5 +/- 301.8 mg for group A, 499.4 +/- 283.7 mg for group B, and 464.7 +/- 280.1 mg for group C (group A significantly differed from group C, P < 0.002). The mean daily milk consumption in group A was higher than in groups B and C (103.4 +/- 147.5, 85.7 +/- 122.25, and 84.5 +/- 135.1 g, respectively; P or = 88 cm (P< 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: The study confirms the inverse relationship between daily dietary calcium intake and obesity. This linkage relates to the intake of milk, but not to other dairy products.

I guess ultimately thats why I like the WW aspect. And this would work with anything, simple calorie counting or whatever, moderation is the key. If I want pizza I have a slice not half a large one. If I want ice cream I have a half cup not a whole pint. Funny, I’ve been there before too… I can’t say I play with all of it, I still disagree with their dairy fascination, I definitely disagree with their healthy fat list, no fish oil? come on..

In fact pretty much all I do is take my whole clean food PN teachings (although not the timing), bend the rules a wee bit regarding some choices of processed foods in the name of convenience and apply the WW points system to it.

I definitely do not see me doing it forever, I will not be a lifetimer and I will not be tracking points all my life, I think by the time I get through this down to my goal I will have learned what I can splurge on and what my portions should look like. I.E. I will have learned to eat like a normal person

I admit… I am usually the opposite on weekends, as I am less likely to go out then than during the week. So for me, I have generally found it easy to eat lower on the cal scale most weekends, while during the week was where temptation lay. Hence my “strategic” Monday weigh-in. LOL!